Evidence of library value for teaching and research staff

Providing evidence of value remains an elusive goal for academic libraries, according to a new report, available for free from http://libraryvalue.wordpress.com/report.

The findings are the results of a six-month research project commissioned by SAGE, which sets out recommendations for academic libraries to enhance their working relationship with academic teaching and research staff. ‘Working together: evolving value for academic libraries’ was undertaken by LISU, a national research and information centre based in the Research School of Informatics and the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University (UK).

Findings from three geographic areas, the United States, United Kingdom and Scandinavia, indicated that there is no systematic evidence of the value of academic libraries for teaching and research staff. Despite this, librarians noted that they receive positive feedback about the support the library provides, but there is a perception that academic staff do not really know how to use all that the library can offer.
Outlined in the report are three key issues identified by librarians as being central to working together with faculty. These are: value measurement and perception; working together with researchers and teachers; and raising awareness about library products and services. The report sets out examples of best practice and makes a series of recommendations for libraries and university management to improve the perceived value of academic libraries with teaching and research staff.

Click here to download this report
Thank you
SAGE and the LISU research team

Librarian reads and reviews

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

Bloomsbury

ISBN978-0-7475-8297-7

The sufferings of a land with a great tradition, the pathos of the women in a land of continuous clashes and fighting… the novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns” depict a lot more than that. Afghanistan has been the cradle and playground for war lords, sometimes from the neighboring countries, otherwise from the interiors. In these chaotic perils there were the women who lived within the wall, behind the screens and within the clutches of religious coverings, holding the misfortunes of a birth. No need to say about the status of women in a male dominated society. In the name of god and in the name of religion the segregated lot suffered.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” portrays the story of two women – Mariam and Laila.. Mariam by birth itself was a ‘harami’ because of none of her mistakes. She was only fifteen when she was married to Rasheed, who was thirty years elder than her. After some twenty years, the other girl Laila was smacked with tragedy. She had to join Mariam as another wife of Rasheed. Even though they finds it difficult to be together in the beginnings, they find consolation each other, then a relationship grows just like that between two sisters or that between a mother and her daughter.

Along with the story the political changes in the country and the death and destruction happening in the country are ornately drawn by Hosseini. The enthusiasm of the author in the description of details gradually recedes when we gradually reach the end of the novel. The author gives the impression of himself in a haste to wind up.

However it is an unforgettable picture of a country which is subjected to a lot of destruction even in the 20^th century. It also portrays the women’s endurance being tested beyond their worst imaginations. Yes, we have to read this novel to know what Afghanistan was… to an extent what it is now.

Goa University Library now mouse clicks away!

The Library of Goa University is now online with its website and the database made available to the academics of the global village. You can access the website under http://library.unigoa.ac.in and the database under http://libcat.unigoa.ac.in . We are now available on Facebook, Twitter and similar other social networking facilities too.

The online facilities were inaugurated by the Hon Chief Minister of Goa Sri Manohar Parrikar in an august function held at the University on 30.5.2012